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DECADE OF DESTRUCTION

THE reception centre at Mocuba,

MOZAMBIQUE, for people displacedby war, consists ofa scattered collectionoftents beside a small airstrip of red earth.Here, every week, thousands of peoplearrive, hungry and in rags, many withhorrific stories to tell.

Mocuba is one of many such centresscattered across the country throughwhich the government with the supportof organisations like Oxfam is trying tohelp its stricken population. Everyprovince in the country is affected by war.

Florinda and her brother Selario arrived atMocuba in January1990. They werescarcely old enough to walk when, along

with their parents, they were taken by

rebels belonging to the M ozambiqueNational Resistance (the MNR) andmarched hundreds of miles through wildforest toa guerrillacamp. With nothing towear but tree bark, the children were leftto fend for themselves, while their parentswere put to work in the fields. Soon aftertheir arrival, their mother died inchildbirth. Then one day their fatherdisappeared. The children eventuallyescaped, together with an older girl, andmanaged to reach the relief centre, wherethey were given food and clothes.

Along with a quarter ofa million otherorphans in Mozambique, Florinda andSelario face an uncertain future. The

Mozambique: Kidnapped by rebel guerrillas, and orphaned by war, Florinda and her brother Selario are nowbeing cared for in a reliefcentre, but they face an uncertain future.

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extent of the trauma which both adultsand children have suffered is incalculable.

The MNR was originally created by theRhodesian and Portuguese secret police tohunt down ZANU guerrillas1 fighting the

Rhodesian government. When Rhodesiabecame independ ent Zimbab we in 1980,South Africa took over control of the MNRas a me ans of un der m inin g th e stability ofthe left-wing FRELIMO go vernm ent ofneighbouring Mozambique.

Today it is generally accepted that officialsupport for the MNR from the SouthAfrican govern ment has ended thoughassistance from private sources probablycontinues. The 'band its' live byplun derin g local villages, sho ps, and

health centres. People are press-gangedinto fighting for them and butcheringinnocent people.

MNR terror spills over into neighbouringcountries. Because ZIMBABWE gives

military supp ort to its neighb our (in anattempt to keep open the vital road andrail links to the sea which cut acrossMo zambique), MNR band its regularlyconduct raids into eastern Zimbabwe,seizing cattle and food, and attackingvillages, schools, and health centres.

The head of one village told Oxfam abou tan attack on his community:

"They came at night, arou nd midnight.They robbed a shop which stored



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everything we needed. Then they set it

alight. Later that night they killed awoman who refused to carry theirloot. Aweek later they came back and robbedanother shop and set it on fire. They alsoburned a truck belonging to the ownerofthe shop."

The destruction of private vehicles is amajor problem for people in the area.Those who are seriously ill have to rely onpassing army trucks to take them tohospital. Schools and health services havebeen disrupted, and it gets harder andharder to recruit nurses and doctorsbecause of the risks.

Across Mozambique's border withZAMBIA, similar disruption is occurring.One mother told an Oxfam worker in

August1988 abouta horrific attack on hervillage Mwangala in which heryoungest child was hacked to death andher 14 year-old daughter and her youngersister abducted. As in Zimbabwe, schoolsand clinics have been attacked, and it isoften difficult for people to farm.

Many people from Mozambique have fledto neighbouring countries to escape theMNR. More than 70,000 refugees live infive camps along the border withZimbabwe, where health and sanitationfacilities are desperately inadequate.

In MALAWI, where land is scarce, thehuge numbers of refugees area massiveburden. There are nearly 800,000 refugeesin Malawi today or one refugee to everyeleven Malawians. In the south of the

Zimbabwe: In fear of MNR cross-border attacks, this woman walked SOkm with her three children, to start a

new life in the village of Chipo te. She has nothing bu t this hut, a hoe, and a few cooking pots.



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DECADEOF DESTRUCTION

country the refugees outnumber the localpopulation.

Zuze M uhala, an 18-year old from Mipivevillage in Mozambique, fled with his sisterto Malawi in1986 after an MNR attack inwhich his mother and father were hackedto death and many other people werekilled. He now earns a precarious livingas a guide and porter on Mulanje

mountain.Angishita Chimiga, who is in her 60s,arrived in Malawi with nothing butasmall basket and some sacking for clothes."I ran away with eight grandchildren andmy daughter," she explains. "Mydaughter died of malnutrition.I am alone.I have no husband." The youngestgrandchild is so severely malnourished

that it is impossible to guess her age.

Those who have fled o escape the warhave generally found some kind of help.SOUTH AFRICA alone affords no refugeand provides no aid. It treats refugees asillegalaliens. On long stretches of theborder with Mozambique, the SouthAfrican forces have built an electrifiedfence which has killed and maimed

hundreds of refugees trying to escapefrom the MNR.

Leonardo, a teenage Mozambican, tried tocross the border three years ago byburrowing under the wire, but his bodytouched the fence and he was severelyburned. He was carried half dead to amission hospital, where his mutilatedright hand had to be amputated. The

South Africa: Refugees from the war in Mozambique, fleeing across the border, encounter minefields, armed

guards, and an electrified fence with tw o settings: LETHAL and N O N- L ET H AL



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incident so traumatised him that eventoday he has no idea of his identity or age.

ANGOLA, like Mozambique, used to beacolony ofPortugal. It becameindependent in1975 after a long and bitterguerrilla war. The largest of the groupswhich had fought the Portuguese theleftwing MPLA declared itself the newgovernment. In a bid to stop it coming to

power, South African forces invaded thecountry, but were blocked by Cubantroops.

During the 1980s the South AfricanDefenceForce,along with UNITA, a rivalfaction in Angola, tried to overthrow theSoviet-backed MPLA government. TheUSA has given support toUNITA, whichstill operates in the country.

Chief Chipawa and his people fled in 1985after they were attacked one night by rebelUNITA forces. He told Oxfam: "Therewas no time for us to collect our things:we just had to run. Everything wasdestroyed in ourplace. They burned ourhouses and ourcrops;all our animalswere lost. We ran to save our lives."

Scattered by the attack, the villagers madetheir way across the border to Zambiawhere they had relatives some takingten days to make thejourney.Thougheveryone arrived safely, they had lost allof their possessions.

These people werelucky:a group fromanother village in Angola had to walk 180

km to safety after UNITA attacked theirhome. By the time they gained thesecurity of government-held areas, only


Angola: Salmira Salala (12 /ears old) learns to walk

again. She stepped on a U NIT A landmine during an

attack on her village.

the young men and women were left;none of the older people or the childrensurvived the gruelling trek.

Conflict and related famines have killedmore than halfa million people inMozambique and Angola in the last tenyears. More than eleven million peoplehalf the populations of the two countries have either had to flee their homes, or

are dependent on emergency food aid.Another million and a halfare refugees inneighbouring countries.


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THE BURDEN OF DEBT

Zimbabw e: Mzola School, Matabeleland. Many southern African governments, heavily indebted to the

International Monetary Fund, have had to make severe cuts in public spending.

A government credit scheme does exist tohelp sm all farmers, but Esme is too poo rto get a loan. Oxfam is wo rking w ith localofficials and farmers to try to find ways ofimproving support for those, like Esme,wh o are most in need.

During the 1970s the Malawi governmentpoured investment into the big tobacco,coffee, and tea estates which theyinherited at independen ce andneglected the needs of small farmers . Fora brief period this strategy proved highlyprofitable to the economy. But the rise inthe p rice of oil in the late 1970s, and thefalling price of tobacco and sugar onworld m arkets, soon had the governmen t

borrowing heavily.

As the debt grew, interest rates mounted,


and in 1981 Malawi agreed to a series ofeconomicv adjustments' in return for helpfrom the IMF. Some of these measureshave proved beneficial to better-off small-holders, but for the poorest they haveoften been disastrous.

The effects of adjustment on the poorest inZAMBIA ha ve been equally severe. In1987 the gove rnm ent b roke off relationswith the IMF after p eople rioted in p rotestagain st the rising cust or maize. For awhile the country tried to manage alone,but it has since entered into newdiscussions with the Fund.

The region wor st hit by the recession has

been the Copperbelt, the cou ntry'sindustrial heartland , to which tens ofthousands of people migrated after


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THE BURDEN OF DEBT

independence in1964, seeking a better life.The Zambian government has done littlesince independence to diversify aneconomy heavily dependent on copper.When the price fell sharply in the 1970s,the government had to borrow, andZambia, like Malawi, is now suffering theeffects of high interest rates coupled withreduced earnings. Unemployment isrunning at2 million out ofa population of

7.5 million. Sixty per cent of young peoplebetween the ages of16 and 24 areunemployed.

Responding to the hardships faced bypeople in this situation is now animportant part of Oxfam's work inZambia. We are trying to help them findalternative and sustainable sourcesofincome.

Even for well-organised groups the goingis tough, as the Kayuka Self-Help Youth

Project has found. The group started lifewith a poultry-rearing project, but therising price of chicken feed in1988 left themembers unable to afford enough to keepthe hens fed until market time.

Oxfam helped with a small grant to tidethem over, but the problems continued.Because of their smallsize,the groupcouldn 't get the feed producers to deal

with them: unlike the big commercialfarms, they can't get hold of hardcurrency. Group chairperson, IsaacYambisa, told Oxfam: "The commercialfarmers are able to give 'tips' to theworkers at the feed factory.We can'tafford to doso, and as a result we are thelast to be served."

The group has since diversified intovegetable and maize production, as wellas hiring out oxen, to reduce the dangersof relying on only one product.

Zambia: A sewing class in a squatter settlement, Lu sab . The scheme (partly funded by Oxfam ) helps

unemployed people to learn new skills.



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A TIME OF CHANGE

SOUTH Africa's involvement in warsin Angola and Mozambique, and its

attempts to strengthen its economicdomination of the region, were part ofastrategy. Combined with repression athome, it was intended to ensure thesurvival ofa system which benefits thewhite minority.

In 1988 the strategy suffered a major blow

when South African defence forces,fighting in Angola, lost their airsuperiority to the allied forces of theAngolan government and Cuba: evidencethat the UN arms embargo against SouthAfrica was taking effect. This, combinedwith growing international isolation,severe economic problems, continuinginternal opposition, and a new climate inEast-West relations, forced a changeof

direction.

South Africa withdrew from Angola, set inmotion the independence process inNAMIBIA a country it had occupiedillegally for69 years and in early 1990introduced a num ber of internal reforms,including the release of Nelson Mandela,and the unbanning of the African NationalCongress and other key organisations.

For the vast majority of black people inSOUTH AFRICA, however, little haschanged. People continue to be classifiedinto different racial groups, and blackpeople are restricted in where they canlive,discriminated against in employment,health and education, and still denied realpolitical rights.

At the heart of apartheid is the systemof'homelands' or bantustans3 pockets of


South Africa: "W e have been here IS years now

and still we have nothing. W e can't plough here:we have no land." (Elena and Donovan Kwinana,

Thomhill)

land designated as places for blacks.

The Xhosa people of Thornhill decided tomove to their present home in Ciskei in1976, when the land they lived on becamepart of the homeland ofTranskei.ThePretoria government, and the Ciskeiauthorities, lured them there with thepromise of better facilities, more land, andthe right to continuing South Africancitizenship.

Nathaniel Skaisazona, the communityleader, recalls their arrival at Thornhill:"There was nothing no sanitation, nowater, no houses. People had been toldthat they would have larger plots than at

home in Herschel. They were promisedthat they would find houses alreadyerected and only have to insert the key...


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A TIME OF CHANGE

Instead they found only long grass andsnakes. People were dying at the rateofperhaps five or ten a day." Even now theentire community shares just a dozenstand pipes.

In 1981 Ciskei, the most densely crowdedof the 'homelands', became nominallyindependent from South Africa. Thepeople of Thornhill found themselves

classified as residents of Ciskei, anddenied access to services such as healthand education which they once had in'white' South Africa. They have to makedo with the little that is provided by the'homeland' administration. With thesupport of the Grahamstown RuralCommittee (funded by Oxfam), theresidents have been fighting ever since topersuade the South African government tohonour its earlier commitments.

For their refusal to accept incorporation,the community was victimised under thetyrannical regime of Ciskei's formerTresident-for-life' LennoxSebe.GodfreyNgendesha was detained and tortured bythe Ciskei police in1987. His legs bear thescars of the electric shocks.

Opposition to Sebe's rule grew throughoutSouth Africa. By February1990, over 50communities had collectively handed backtheir Ciskeian identity documents, inprotest against his regime. In that month,the Ciskei government was overthrown ina military coup (with popular support).The South African government whichhad become increasingly disillusionedwith its protege did not intervene.The new military ruler, Brigadier Gqozo,has announced that his political aim is the

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eventual reintegration of the ^homeland'into South Africa. A similar policy hasbeen adopted by the leader of Transkei,General Holomisa.

The residents of Thornhill may soon findthemselves citizens of South Africa onceagain. Much more will need to be done,however, if people are to be given thechance to escape the desperate poverty

which traps them. "Forus, nothing haschanged," said Godfrey. "When we getdecent land of our own, then we willknow that there has been change."

There are27 million black people in SouthAfrica, and5 million whites. Yet the blackpopulation is allocated only14 per cent ofthe land. In 1985,52.2 per cent of blackpeople lived below the Minimum LivingLevel, compared with 1.6 per centofwhites.4 This great imbalance in the shareof wealth is one of the issues which ademocratic government in South Africawill have to confront.

In Windhoek, the capital of newly-independent NAMIBIA, a building boomis underway one sign of the new

confidence in the country's future.Namibia's independence is very differentfrom that of Angola and Mozambique,where the exodus of the Portuguese 15years ago left half-finished buildingswhich still litter the skylines of Maputoand Luanda.

In spite of the optimism, the newgovernment faces a huge task. BlackNamibians suffered for generations undera system of apartheid similar to that whichexists in South Africa, and poverty is



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A TIME OF CHANGE

widespread. Fewer than one in fouradults can read and write, and the generallevel of education in black schools is low.

Health services, particularly primaryhealth care in rural areas where70 percent of the people live are inadequate.The main cause of ill health is poverty:black children in Windhoek are more thaneight times as likely to die in infancy as

white children. Tuberculosisis 30 timesmore common among blacks than whites.

Even before independence the people atOtjimbingwe, in central Namibia, hadbegun to try to provide an affordable andrealistic alternative to the inadequategovernmentclinic. They opened theirown People's Clinic in1987, with supportfrom Oxfam.

"We started the clinic because thecommunity was dissatisfied with thehealth services provided by thestate,"saidPastor Kapi Mujore, the Chair of theHealth Committee. "People were dyingwhile waiting fora doctor."

The community is now looking forwardtoworking with the new governmentservices. "From running the clinic here we

have learnt thata national health caresystem should be community-based," saidPastor Mujore.

The roads, hospitals, and schools built bythe South Africans all relied heavily onfunding from Pretoria. Without generousinternational aid the new government inNamibia will be hard pressed to meet themany urgent needs of its people.

Namibia: The People's Clinic at Otjimbingwe, central Nam ibia, set up in 1987 by the local community, with

support from Oxfam.

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BRITAIN,EUROPE AND SOUTHERN AFRICA

THE people that Oxfam works with arein no doubt that the recent

changes in southern Africa mostnotably the granting of independence toNamibia are in part the resultofinternational sanctions. They areconvinced that although the measuresadopted by the international communityhave often been weak and partial, theyhave nevertheless contributed to the

present climate of change.An embargo on oil sales was adopted bythe United Nations in1963, and amandatory ban on arms sales agreed in1977. During the 1980s pressure forchange increased with the resurgenceofpopular resistance in South Africa.

To be truly effective, sanctions need to beimplemented internationally otherwiseaction by one country will be underminedby another. US disinvestment, forexample, has led to a marked decline intrade with South Africa but Japan'strade has increased.

Failure to agree on specific sanctions hasbeen a major weakness. Britain, which has

the strongest historical ties with theregion, has resisted the impositionofsanctions more strongly than any othercountry. As a member of theCommonwealth, the EuropeanCommunity, and the group of topindustrial nations, Britain has used herposition to block sanctions measures.

England: Cand lelit vigil near the South African embassy in London, December 1986: part of a wave of protest

across Europe against detentions of black community leaders in South Africa.

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The Commonwealth adopted a package oflimited measures designed toaccommodate strong British objections in1985. These measures were strengthenedin 1986 though Britain refused toimplement most of them. In 1989 theCommonwealth faced a crisis whenBritain called for an easing of sanctionsonly hours after the release of an officialagreement to which Britain was asignatory which stated that insufficientprogress had been made towards thedismantling of apartheid to justifyrelaxing the pressure.

Britain refused to join with the rest of theCommonwealth in trying to strengthenfinancial sanctions and the UN armsembargo.

In 1985 the European Community alsoagreed a series of measures designed toencourage a climate for negotiations toend apartheid. The package contained amix of 'negative' and 'positive' measures.

The negative measures included a ban onthe export of oil to South Africa, anddiscouraging cultural and military links.The positive measures included increased

South Africa: A peaceful march organised by the Mass Democratic Movement, Cape Town, 13 September 1989.

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aid to South Africa's neighbours, and

support for organisations in South Africaworking fora peaceful end to apartheid.In 1986 a number of new measures wereadded, including a voluntary ban on newinvestment.

The 'positive' and 'negative' measures ofthis 'dual-track' strategy were originallyconceived as complementary, but theyhave since drifted apart, with greateremphasis falling on the positive measures.

More aid is certainly needed in the region,but it cannot on its own solve the region'sproblems. So long as the wars continue towreck economies and drive large numbersof people from their homes, much of thebenefit of increased aid will be wasted.Even when the wars are over, the massive

task of rehabilitation and reconstructionwill take many years, and demand vastresources. Significant debt reliefis alsoessential, along with more accountablesystems of government to tackle poverty.

Similarly, although European support foranti-apartheid organisations in SouthAfrica is to be welcomed, the impactofthis aid is blunted by the harassment ofcommunity groups under the continuingState of Emergency.

In February1990, following the releaseofNelson Mandela, Britain sought topersuade some of its European partners toease the pressure. It has so far beenunsuccessful in winning support for thisposition.

Those in South Africa who are working fora peaceful end to apartheid believe this is


Angola: The entire drugs supply of a village clinic

near the northern town of Uige. Government

services have broken down under the pressure of

war and economic policy failures; the costs of

reconstruction will be immense.

not the time to relax concertedinternational pressure. Father McebesiXundu spoke for the majority of thepeople Oxfam works with in southernAfrica when he said:

"When you are hammering on a wall andthen you seea chink of light on the other

side,that is not the time to stop, but thetime to work all the harder to break downthe wall."

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HOW EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS CAN HELP

THE governments of southern Africa must implementa wide range of radical changes topromote development in the interests of the poorest. But it is also time that the richer

and more powerful nations began to offer real support for economic development in theregion. A key precondition for genuine development is the end of apartheid in South Africa.On the basis of our experience of30 years' work in the region, and on behalf of our partners,Oxfam urges the British and Irish governments and the European Community to recognisethe special needs of the countries of southern Africa, and to adopt constructive measuresdesigned to help the region as a whole.

1 By giving increased aid to the countries of southern Africa.

The region needs at leastUS$ 2.5 bn a year over four years in order to repair the economicdamage created by South Africa's destabilisation. Less than half of this amount is currentlyprovided. More financial support is urgently needed for the region's own programmeofaction, together with increased aid for the huge numbers of refugees and other victimsofconflict. Our governments should also respond to the special needs of newly-independentNamibia.

2 By cancelling debt owed by the debt-distressed countries of the region.To alleviate the grave problems of Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, andZimbabwe, all creditor countries should cancel the loans made as part of their aidprogrammes, and press for the reduction of multilateral and commercial debt.

3 By supporting the agenda for change set out by Oxfam's partners in South Africa.In particular, Oxfam urges

a mandatory ban on new investment in South Africa; more rigorous enforcement of the embargoes on the sale of arms and oil to South Africa; a compulsory ban on the export of computer equipment, which could be used for military

and security purposes.

This pressure will need to be increased if the South African government fails to commit itselfsoon to the irreversible dismantling of apartheid and the creation ofa non-racial democracy.Further appropriate steps could include:

a compulsory ban on all new loans to South Africa; a ban on the import of coal and agricultural products from South Africa; an end to the promotion of trade and tourism to South Africa; an examination of the possibility ofa ban on gold exports from South Africa.

With a democratic government in South Africa committed to peace and cooperation with itsneighbours, and with appropriate economic help for the region, thereis just a chance thatFrancesco and the Jere family, and millions like them, might one day livea life free fromwant and fear.

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NOTES AND FURTHER READING

NOTES

1 The Zimbabwe National Union (ZANU) was oneof two guerrilla groups which foughtthe Rhodesian government duringthe1970s; the other w as the Zimbabw e African People 's Union (ZAPU).

2 The IMF wasset up, along withthe World Bank,in 1944. The most important multilateral lending agenciesin the world, theyexercise considerable influence over the economic policiesof countries who borrow from them. The agencies' policiesaredominated by thericher nations, including Britain, who contribute mostof the funding.

3 South Africa'sten 'home lands' are areas allocatedto the nine 'ethnic groups' into which black people are dividedby thegovernment. It is officially claimed that these areas have beenset aside as places where the black population can pursue itsow ndevelopment path. Four (Transkei, Ciskei, Venda,an d Bophuthatswana) are nominally 'indep endent '; the remaining six, althoughtermed 'self-governing', are not.But noneof them is a viable economic unit,and dire povertyis the daily experienceof most peopleliving in them.

4 Info '89, Human Awareness Programme, Johannesburg 1990. (Latest available figures.)

FURTHER READING

British Council of Churches/Christian Aid:Standing for the Truth: Britain and SouthernAfrica (London: BCC/Christian Aid, 1989)

John Clark with Caroline Allison: Zambia:Debt and Poverty (Oxford: Oxfam, 1989)

Phyllis Johnson and David Martin (eds.):Apartheid Terrorism The Destabilization Report:A Report on the Devastation of the Frontline States,

prepared for the Commonwealth Committee ofForeign Ministers on Southern Africa

(London: Commonwealth Secretariat and

James Currey, 1989)Derrick Knight: Mozambique: Caught in the Trap(London: Christian Aid, 1988)

Caroline Moorehead: Namibia: Apartheid'sForgotten Children (Oxford: Oxfam, 1988)

Mark Orkin: Sanctions Against Apartheid(London: Catholic Institute for InternationalRelations, 1989)

Susanna Smith: Front Line Africa: The Right to aFuture (Oxford: Oxfam, 1990).

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